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Thank you for the reply,
Here are answers concerning my wife:
No surgery as a child. She only had a crack in the skull after the car hit her. No hardware in her spine. Her shoulder surgery has been damaged due to a fall after her dog tripped her about a year ago, so there is pain there also.
Yes, on MRI's. She corrected me that it was six vertebrae and not 3. She has also had some numbness at times.
No on EMG Nerve connection studies
Here are the answers concerning my back:
I had the fridge on a dolly with me pulling and two strong ladies pushing on the other end while going upstairs. Since they were pushing instead of lifting some, the fridge suddenly jumped a stair and fell on me. When I tried to get up with the fridge I heard a loud pop. I should have taken more time.
Happened about 2 years ago - pain when in bed is worse and about the same when up and walking around - pain when I step into a small hole - jar it. The injuries were to my lower spine. I am doing some aerobics with my wife and that does limber me up and help some.
I have had the MRI's and an XRAY. I have not had an EMG nerve connection study or seen a neurologist.
I have had no scan of my abdomen or seen a gastroenterologist - just tests by the DR and the colonoscopy. No one has looked at my abdomen. More recently I have developed some rib pain, and it hurts sleeping on my side. I thought I needed another MRI to see if something had changed but the orthopedic spine specialist wanted to go for the shots and not another MRI. I was not sure if I wanted to get into that cycle. This was a different spine doctor than the one my wife had. In my prime and in tip top shape my weight stayed steady at 165. Last night when I weighed it was 164 but not muscle weight which worried me.
Thank you for the information. It sounds like I need an actual gastroenterologist and a neurologist.
My wife may also need a check with a neurologist and maybe a shoulder replacement repair although shoulders are tricky. Another possibility is the MAO Clinic but that is about a day's drive from where we live so we would have to figure that out.
Dan
Replies to "Thank you for the reply, Here are answers concerning my wife: No surgery as a child...."
@dmg777
When you fell with the refrigerator on the dolly, were you facing the refrigerator and dolly with your back to the stairs? Did the full weight of the refrigerator and dolly fall on you and did you hit the stairs with all of the weight on your torso/abdomen?
Do you only do low impact aerobics? If you injured your spine or have disc issues, you do not want to do any high impact exercises like running or jogging or high aerobics. I would also not use a chiropractor since adjustments can worsen spine/disc issues.
I have had lumbar surgery, too (l3-l5). At first, I tried injections but they only worked in the beginning. The last 3 did nothing so I moved to surgery. My symptoms were low back, hip, buttock and leg pain, weakness and numbness. I am diagnosed with spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease, and neurogenic claudication. I started having symptoms earlier than others typically do because I was born with a congenitally narrow spinal canal. My pain started in my 40s and I’m now in my 50s.
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@dmg777
Hi, Dan.
It does sound like your wife may need surgery to fix her shoulder injury where she already had surgery. She may also need cervical spine surgery to stabilize her neck if there is disc degeneration. Bone spurs/osteophytes can form and put pressure on or pinch nerve roots/nerves and even spinal cord. A neurologist can tell you with EMG/nerve conduction studies if there is a spinal nerve being compressed and causing radiating symptoms in arms/hands (radiculopathy). Spinal cord compression can be weakness/numbness in arms/hands where you drop things or handwriting worsens. Cervical spine can also affect bowel/bladder control and walking/legs. I had ACDF surgery on c5-c6 and will have c6-c7 done next month (May). I have degenerative cervical myelopathy spinal cord compression injury and radiculopathy plus carpal tunnel.
For you, I would focus on ensuring you had cervical, thoracic, lumbar and pelvis/hip MRIs and abdominal ultrasound to see how your spine and abdominal organs were affected/injured by the fall of the refrigerator and dolly onto you. I’m assuming you had some impact with the stairs, too. Your ribcage/sternum and liver/kidneys, gallbladder/pancreas or stomach/spleen could have been injured. You want to get to the bottom of the unexplained weight loss. I was reading about adrenal gland injury (near kidneys) causing unexplained weight loss (Addison’s disease https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/addisons-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20350293).